| Southern Bantoid | |
|---|---|
| Wide Bantu | |
| Geographic distribution: |
Subsaharan Africa, but not further west than Nigeria |
| Linguistic classification: | Niger–Congo
|
| Subdivisions: |
? Bendi
? Esimbi
? Menchum
? Buru
Mamfe (Nyang)
? Jarawan (Bantu?)
? Mbam (Bantu?)
(Narrow) Bantu (unity dubious)
|
In the classification of African languages, Southern Bantoid (or South Bantoid), also known as Wide Bantu or Bin, is a branch of the Bantoid languages of the Niger–Congo phylum. Southern Bantoid, which includes the well known and numerous (Narrow) Bantu family, comprises 643 languages as counted by Ethnologue, though many of those are mutually intelligible.
Southern Bantoid was first introduced in Williamson (1989, based on work presented in Blench [1987]) in a proposal that divided Bantoid in North and South Bantoid. The uniformity of the North Bantoid group was subsequently called into question, but the work did establish Southern Bantoid as a valid genetic unit, something that has not happened for (Narrow) Bantu itself.
According to Williamson and Blench (2000:34–5), Southern Bantoid is divided into the various Narrow Bantu languages, Jarawan, Tivoid, Beboid, Mamfe (Nyang), Grassfields, and Ekoid families. Blench (2010) suggests that Tivoid, Momo (ex-Grassfields), and Beboid may form a group, perhaps with the uncertain languages Esimbi and Buru:
Eborna has been claimed as a Southern Bantu language, but may be spurious.